Monthly Archives: June 2014

What a great day. It’s gonna be another scorcher though. It’s really hard to get garden work done when it is so hot, but things gotta be done right? Yesterday, Hubby and I stacked up several more tomato plants, they are getting huge already and we have tons of green maters just waiting to turn red,or yellow. I also potted up about a dozen to sit around the yard and on the porch. I planted another dozen or so the other day in the garden. I also pulled all the broccoli out,it was starting to send up flower shoots, go make room later for more cabbage and lettuce, for a fall crop. My peas and squash plants are also taking off like crazy. I figure I am going to have quite and few things to sell in a few weeks. I am going to church camp next week as a counselor, and I am hoping things will be ready to go by the time I get back. It’s going to be hard leaving for camp this year. With the chickens and this huge garden, I just hope the boys and Nick can keep up with everything that needs to be done. Silly me wasn’t thinking and I have about 20 eggs that are supposed to hatch on Monday. Yep the day I leave. Duhh….. I am going to have to teach the boys and Nick what to do with the new chicks (if any hatch) and stuff. I’m just going to have to trust them. The boys are actually on a mission trip till Thursday, so all the teaching will have to be done over the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed all goes well.

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. Psalm 62:5

Today is a great day. Scarlett, my silky hen just hatched her entire clutch of 6 eggs. 100% hatch rate. That is so awesome to me, especially after last weeks epic fail. I think Survivor will have 2 new sisters/brothers out of this hatch. I put 2 of her mommas eggs under Scarlett, plus at least 1 bantam egg and the rest were hers. I am just tickled pink. Scarlett hasn’t really let me get a good look at them yet, she is holding onto them tightly, which she should!! She’s such a good momma, it almost makes me cry.

So the ground is wet and the sky is cloudy. It seems harder to get up and get going on days like today. I’m sitting here trying to think of what I can do today. I really need to weed the garden, but with it being so muddy outside I think we will wait till later today.I’m hoping that the sun will come out and at least dry things up a bit. Nick is going to get started on some of the new coops later today which makes me excited. My hatch for this week did not go well. Out of 19 eggs we only got 2 new chicks. I must have done something wrong, but for the life of me I can’t figure it out. I did everything the same as last time. I am just going to have to monitor the temps a lot more closely I guess. I am also going to get a small fan to put in the bator. Someone said forced air can be better than still air. I guess we will just have to see. It really bums me out though because I had some black copper maran eggs I was excited to see what the chicks would look like. I opened one of the silky eggs yesterday and it looks like it stopped developing early. I really need to research the candling method, maybe then I will know early on if something is wrong.

It has been so crazy around here lately. I think the summer lazies have started to kick in. There have been days where I just didn’t feel much like doing anything. I did however get a great crop of lettuce and broccoli out of the garden last night for dinner. And I had 2 baby chicks hatch yesterday morning. Still waiting on the other 17. I did hear some peeping, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. My first hatch went so well, I am really hoping this one does too, but it’s day 22, so I am starting to get worried. Hatching eggs can be stressful. Scarlett is still sitting on her eggs, hers are supposed to hatch next week, I am truly hoping some of those make it. I would love to see what kind of momma she will make. I’ve heard silky’s make awesome momma’s. After the next couple of hatches I might take a break from incubating, but it’s hard. It’s eggciting to see what you might get. I’m going to have Nick start on some more coops. That way we can start separating them and keeping the chicken yard more in order. They have taken to coming up on the porch and I really don’t like it. They poo everywhere and I have to wash down the deck everyday. Tonight I will be hopefully planting a couple of rose bushes around the pool if it doesn’t rain.

Well here’s hoping everyone has a productive day.

Thought they stumble, they will never fall, for the hand of the Lord holds them by the hand. Psalm 37:24

Man, I am still wanting to put May when I type in the date. I think I am still shocked that it is June already. Me and the kidos got out in the garden this morning while the weather was still kinda cool. It was actually nice not having to keep wiping off the dripping sweat, but alas we must now go back out. Hopefully it’s not to bad. The air conditioning just kicked on not too long ago so hopefully it won’t be too hot. I don’t think it will be, the high is only supposed to be around 78. I can handle that.

I decided last night that I had better make some grow-out pens for some of the younger chicks. I noticed yesterday that the bigger ones were not letting them eat too much. So this morning Cole and I set up a grow out pen for the 4 younger and put the younger bars in the pen with Scarlett. Even if it is just long enough to eat at least they will get something. That way I can also keep feeding them chick starter/grower for a few more weeks. I don’t like the older birds eating it because it is to expensive, they need to quit being so lazy and start foraging more anyway. They have plenty of room, and God knows there are plenty of bugs, 😦 Anyhoo this project about trying to see who is laying and who isn’t is starting to irritate me a bit. I know I have a few that are pretty much laying every day. I guess the ones in the pens will just have to stay in them a few more days, or at least till they lay an egg. I want to get this under control and soon.

Well here’s to another day at Chick Commander Farm. 🙂

You must not have any other god but me. Exodus 20:3

This is Baby, she has spradel leg and crooked toes. We are trying to fix her.

Well it’s started off to be a very soggy day. We had an awful storm pass through this morning at 3 am, because the thunder woke me up. And it looks like it’s going to be a wet,wet day. Although this is great news for the garden, it’s not so great for my Chicky babies. I hate to see them out there sloshing in all the big puddles, but I guess they don’t mind to much because they don’t really even try to get out of the rain. They have a huge porch they can get under but they seem to like to just keep going about their business of foruging and running around. some of my wee ones did get a little soaked yesterday, so we are keeping them inside for today. I have 20 eggs going into lock down on Saturday. I am so excited to maybe getting some more chicks. I will have to probably sell some of these guys though. Nick is going to have to get busy working on some more coops too. They are a bit crowed at night and I want them all to have plenty of room. The rain is actually helping right now with the flies. I just cleaned the coops on Saturday and they already need to be cleaned again. The flies are awful, but I have found a few ways to try and help keep them down a bit. I am going to try them today and I will report back on how things go.

Oh happy day!! 🙂 God is so good and merciful and I just want to shout his name. Thank you God for giving me another wonderful day. The sun is shining here at Chick Commander Farm (formally known as The Brewer Homestead). I have created a Facebook page called just that Chick Commander Farm, if anyone would like you can find it on Facebook and “LIKE” it and start following me there too. I love sharing all the great things going on, on the homestead. The vegetable garden is going great. And we have made some great progress on the flower garden. The new Chickie babies are doing great.

I did start something new yesterday. I am needing to figure out which of my new laying hens are actually laying, so I put 1 hen in a big cage until she lays an egg, this will also help me in the future to know who’s eggs are who’s. I am keeping a chart o each day and who lays and who doesn’t. In starting this new business I have to be proficient and unfortunately I can not keep birds that are not producing. I can’t kill them either, so I will take them to the auction and sell them, I already have 2 in mind for this weeks auction. My parents also told me that I can use their space at the farmer’s market this weekend because they won’t be there so I am hoping to maybe get rid of the rest of my tomato plants. I still have almost 100 and I also have relish,pickles and peaches canned that I would like to sell. I will probably also make some homemade breads and some other things. I love being able to make stuff myself and sell it or share it with others.

It was a terribly soggy night last night, but today seems to be looking a lot better. We laid down stray for some of the birds because their pens got pretty flooded, but with the heat I’m sure they will dry up fast.

I hope everyone has a splendid and productive day!!!!

God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. Psalm 18:30

Another busy weekend down and now another start to a busy week. We had a great weekend. Got most of the fence up around our garden and I just saw that our peas are starting to grow pods. I believe we will have peas in a week. Yummy!! I have sugar snap and early peas growing. I just hope we have enough so that I can freeze them so they will last longer than last year.

We had some awesome arrivals this weekend! 5 of the 7 eggs I had in the incubator hactched and now we have 5 new silky chicks. They are the cutest little things. I was so nervous Saturday night I almost couldn’t sleep, but alas they finally started hatching at 5 am. It’s just like new babies to come in the wee hours of the morning. I have another 20 in the incubator with a hatch date of June 9 and another 22 with a hatch date of June 22 and Scarlett, my Silky hen is sitting on 6 eggs right now with a hatch date of June 16, which is just 2 days after my sons 15th birthday. I think I have caught the hatching bug or something. I plan to set 12 eggs almost every week. That way I can have some newbies every week or so.

I did have 3 eggs that didn’t hatch and I am planning on doing eggtopsies on them later today. I want to know at what stage the embryo stopped developing or if their was an embryo at all. This is all very new to me and it is all a very big learning process. But I feel that a 80% hatch rate on my first hatch is not bad at all.

What is going to be hard is parting with them after I have hatched them, but that is why I am doing this. I just have to stop naming them I guess. I do however want to build up my stock with chicks that I know where they are coming from, so I will be keeping some from every hatch. But selling a bunch too. 😦